Twelve Years After Returning Home: Seeking a Personal Sanctuary Between Mulberry and Chrysanthemum | Food Talk Vol. 18

In this episode, the host of Food Talk travels to Tongxiang in Zhejiang province, following Yu Jiangang—a young returnee—as he visits the village where he was born, grew up, and has now settled back into. Together they explore the village’s final acre of Hangzhou white chrysanthemums, uncovering the biodiversity and Jiangnan cultural heritage woven into their cultivation. They also step onto his family’s premises to watch silkworms being raised, silk reeled, and silk quilts handmade, alongside batches of mustard tubers just laid down to cure…

Born to a farming family in Jiangnan, Yu Jiangang gained admission to university and went on to work in advertising at a prominent multinational firm—a trajectory that, by conventional standards, pointed straight to “success”. So why did he choose to return home with his partner to pursue ecological farming?

Yu Jiangang also stands apart as something of an outlier among those who return home. He sees agricultural labour—raising silkworms, reeling silk, picking and drying chrysanthemums—not merely as work, but as a way to “declare who he is”. He notes, too, that for the newer wave of young returnees, the intrinsic value of rural life is often drowned out by other, louder clamours. How, then, does he view the distinction between his own path and that of others who have gone back? And what exactly lies at the core of the values he holds fast to?

Lately, land contracting disputes and road-widening projects have brought unexpected challenges to Yu Jiangang’s family farm. What does he envision for the future, and can he carve out a new way forward toward the rural life he idealises? As agricultural culture increasingly captures the imagination of artists, what fresh experiments is he himself setting in motion?

Previously known only through his writing, Yu Jiangang will for the first time share his observations and reflections on life back home via this podcast.

This Episode’s Guest

Yu Jiangang

Born and raised in Zhenghebeng, a silk village in the Jiangnan region, Yu Jiangang graduated in 2008 and took up brand consulting in Beijing. Motivated by a growing concern for the agricultural sector and rural communities, he left his corporate job in 2011 to intern at the Little Donkey Farm. He subsequently volunteered on rural development projects in Zhuang villages along the Guangxi–Vietnam border. After returning to his hometown, he and his wife, Mei Yuhui, founded “Mei and Yu”, dedicated to the meticulous craft of making silk quilts and passing down traditional techniques. They hope to revitalise the intangible cultural heritage of sericulture and farming, crafting a living tradition for the future. He is also one of the hosts of the podcast *Collective Dynamics*, where he is known by the handle “Fish Tank”.

This Episode’s Hosts

Tianle

Founding editor at Foodthink and organiser of the Beijing Organic Farmers’ Market. Describing himself with a touch of self-deprecating wit as a “hidden demon in the capital” (a playful Chinese term for a Shanghai native living undercover in Beijing), his sharpest pang of homesickness stems from watching his childhood neighbourhood and favourite teenage eateries get swept up by viral internet trends. Consequently, every return journey is tinged with a familiar melancholy.

Wang Hao

Editor at Foodthink. Stepping into Yu Jiangang’s kitchen instantly brought back the comforting familiarity of his own grandmother’s home.